India announces world’s first intranasal Covid19 vaccine
To cost about Rs.325 per dose in government, Rs.800+GST in private hospitals; developed by Bharat Biotech, iNNCOVACC promises to improve efficiency and administering costs
Nasal vaccination could significantly increase scale and width; source - Bharat Biotech
India’s Health Minister Dr. Mansukh Mandaviya today launched the world’s first intranasal Covid19 vaccine, iNNCOVACC (BBV154), which could drastically speed up the second/booster dose vaccination against Covid19, and change India’s fight against Covid variants in future.
Besides the ease of administration, iNCOVACC is also likely to reduce costs given it does not require syringes, needles, alcohol wipes, bandage, trained personnel, etc, thereby saving costs related to procurement, distribution, storage, and biomedical waste disposal unlike in the case of injectable vaccines.
Importantly, iNCOVACC is based on a vector-based platform, and thus could be easily modified to deal with new variants, and allow large-scale production in a few months.
According to Bharat Biotech, which developed the vaccine in collaboration with Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance (BIRAC), a PSU, an intranasal vaccine stimulates a broad immune response – neutralizing IgG, mucosal IgA, and T cell responses, at the site of infection (in nasal mucosa) – essential for blocking both infection and transmission of COVID-19.
“The nasal route has excellent potential for vaccination due to the organized immune systems of the nasal mucosa,” mentioned Bharat Biotech. It highlighted that the vector platform makes it easy to meet global demand.
Executive Chairman of Bharat Biotech, Dr. Krishna Ella said, “We have developed COVAXIN and iNCOVACC, two COVID vaccines from two different platforms, with two different delivery systems. The vectored intranasal delivery platform gives us the capability for rapid product development, scale-up, easy and painless immunization during public health emergencies and pandemics. We thank the Ministry of Health, CDSCO, Dept of Biotechnology, Govt of India, Technology Development Board, and Washington University, St Louis, for their support and guidance.”
iNCOVACC is currently priced at Rs.325 per dose for large volume procurement by State Governments and Govt of India. Private hospitals are likely to roll out iNCOVACC soon and could cost about Rs.800+GST per dose.
Dr. Mandaviya said, “Being the world’s first intra-nasal COVID19 vaccine, this marks a glorious tribute to the call for Atmanirbhar Bharat. India’s vaccine manufacturing and innovation capability is appreciated all over the world as it has made a mark in producing quality and affordable medicines.”
He added that ZyCoV-D, the world’s first and India’s indigenously developed DNA-based vaccine for Covid-19 to be administered in humans including children and adults 12 years and above, was also developed in partnership with the Department of Biotechnology in the Ministry of Science & Technology under “Mission Covid Suraksha” through BIRAC.
Minister of State (IC) for Science and Technology Dr Jitendra Singh was also present during the launch. He said, “India has taken a lead in developing vaccines and medicines for diseases common in the developing world.”
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